


Thank You for Your Candor

by aliocious



Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Betrayal, Candor Faction, Lies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-18 18:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20196487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliocious/pseuds/aliocious
Summary: The night before the Choosing Ceremony, Peter finds a dirty little secret that changes everything.





	1. Transfer

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like Peter didn't really have much of a history or backstory, so I decided to play around and make one up. I know that in the book, his father dies a different way, but I figured that since pretty much nothing I was writing was canon, I was allowed to change things up. I also didn't know his parent's names, I made it up. Anyway, I'd love feedback and thoughts! Enjoy!
> 
> (Please keep in mind that I haven't gotten around to reading the books yet, I simply did my research online as well as based things off of the movies, so if I got any details wrong, I apologize! I think I did a pretty good job, but hey, I could be wrong.)

  
“You can’t stay here. I don’t care what your result was, you _cannot_ stay here.”  
Even though I knew what my mother had just said was true, I mean, how could I not be upset?  
“Are you kidding? No, you know what, you’re right. I can’t stay here. Not with you constantly breathing down my back and bitching at me for no reason.”  
I could instantly tell that I struck a nerve.  
“Do you need to leave right now?”  
I immediately got quiet. The fact that my mom seemingly wouldn’t care if I left the day before the ceremony hurt like a bitch.  
“Peter Hayes, I don’t know what the hell happened, but the older you got, I began to realize that I raised a selfish, narcissistic, liar. _**A liar**_. You don’t belong here. I mean- You’re constantly getting into random fights, and talking to me like I didn’t birth you and spend sixteen years of my life raising you. You got everything you ever wanted and needed growing up. I spoiled you and I tried my best to be a good mother, but according to you, I’ve failed.”  
She’s never said things like this before- hearing her tell me how she honestly felt about me almost made me feel sick. I really didn’t know what to say. I wanted to apologize, but something inside of me made it impossible.  
“Fine. Well, you’ll be happy to know that you won’t have to see my face again after tomorrow. Thanks for your honesty.”  
I threw my jacket onto a kitchen chair and walked out of my own house like I was an unwelcome stranger. As I was on my way out, I heard my mom trying to apologize, but I quite frankly didn’t wanna hear it. There was no taking back what she said.  
I hate to admit that she was right.  
I wasn’t sure where I was going, but at the same time, I didn’t care. Nobody else cared, so why the hell should I? After about fifteen minutes of aimlessly walking around town though, I finally decided on a location. Headquarters. 


	2. Big Small Talk

The doors were locked as expected, so I pulled out my pocket knife and got to work. It felt wrong, but it's not like I was planning on stealing anything. Unless of course, I changed my mind when I got inside. There's not much to steal anyway, just some files that nobody really cares about, books, and yeah, there are weapons stored on a few floors, but pretty much every faction has guns. Except for Amity of course. Imagine all the cool shit you could steal from Erudite headquarters though- they're loaded with all sorts of serums and technology. Erudite has always been seen as a pretty shady faction though; but I mean, all the more reason to consider transferring, right? Might as well get _ some _ excitement out of life. I can't fucking stand Abnegation, so there would be no way in hell I’d step foot there, and Amity definitely isn't for me. All that love and happiness bullshi-

“Come on, damn it!”

As I was thinking, I was doing a horrible job at maneuvering my pocket knife between the latch of the two doors due to my lack of focus.

"Need some help?"

I quickly pulled my knife from between the two doors and turned around to see who my witness was. 

It was Molly.

"What are you doing out here?"

She pulled out her ID card and swiped it in front of the scanner. "I was out on my porch smoking a cigarette and saw you headed this way." She pulled the door open and held it for me- "So I follow you. You're always up to no good…" she shook her head and playfully smirked, “Why are _ you _ here?”

She followed me inside as I began to look around, observing little details that I might not have before, like the way the light reflected off of the marble floors, or how high the ceilings actually were. Stupid stuff like that.

“I dunno. ‘Figured it couldn’t hurt to say goodbye.”

“You’re leaving?” She sounded surprised for some reason.

“You’re not?”

She followed me as I continued to look around, picking up a book and skimming a few pages.

“Of course I’m leaving… My folks gave me some long speech about how i should follow who I really am, which is so unlike them, but I guess parents just know when it comes to these things…”

I put the book back and continued walking- “I guess so.”

“How’s _ your _ mom handling all of this?”

“Really well actually.”

She looked at me and raised her eyebrows, pausing before speaking again. She was probably trying to figure out if I was bullshitting or not.

“Really? I would’ve thought that she’d be losing her ever-loving mind begging you to transfer.”

I smirked and tilted my head to look at her, “Me too. She really hasn’t even said much about the ceremony. She didn’t even ask about my aptitude test. All she said was that she wanted me to be happy.”  
Lying as always. I feel like I was just trying to convince myself that that's what really happened.

“Huh… Sounds sus to me… You sure she’s not hiding anything from you?”

I paused having no idea where a thought like that would even come from. “...Like what?”

“I don’t know… Maybe she _ wants _ you to leave so you don’t dig up any dirt on her. Maybe she’s purposely giving you some slack to make you wanna transfer.”

I became suspicious of her little theory; it was a bit too specific for my liking.

“What are you talking about?”

She hesitated for a minute before saying anything else. The silence of the room made things even more tense.

“Don’t you think your father’s death seemed a little- strange? Nobody just ‘goes missing’ and turns up dead like that...”

I immediately turned to look at her head-on. “What?”

“N-nothing… Nevermind, I was just thinking-”

“Thinking what, that my mother is responsible for my father’s death? Are you kidding me? My mother is a lot of things, but she’s not a murderer.”

She looked at me with that stupid “_ I know you’re pissed, but I’m not backing down _” face, but stayed silent.

“You know what? That's your problem, Molly, you're always sticking your nose into other people’s business. I don’t understand why it's so hard for you to just worry about your own problems and keep your stupid mouth shut.”

She gawked at me and scoffed- “You’re one to talk, you just never know when to stop! It’s not my fault that everyone _ but _ you knows that your crazy mom took a knife to your daddy’s chest.”

I instantly lost control of my temper and lunged at her, gripping the collar of her jacket in my fists and slamming her against a pillar.

“Say it again, I fucking _ dare you.” _

She stared back at me showing no signs of fear- it honestly only pissed me off more.

“Can’t handle the truth, Hayes? You’re Candor-born, it should be in your blood, you fucking coward.” She elbowed me in the chest and I let go of her. I didn’t know what to think at this point. I didn’t know what to do. I just stared at the ground and listened to her footsteps against the marble floor as they became more distant.

“See you tomorrow, Big Man. Choose wisely.”

I watched her leave and not even bother to look back. She brought up my dad, called me a coward, and my mother a murderer, and didn’t even _ glance _ at me as she left. What a friend… I can't believe I used to have feelings for _ that. _

I looked around and really started to think about what had just happened. What if Molly was right? I never really did get a true explanation for my father’s death. I was only eight when he died and I was simply told that he went missing, but when I got older, my mother explained to me that they found his body far outside of Candor territory. She called it a suicide.

My father, although he was mostly distant and cold, never seemed like the type of man who would just off himself like that. He was a powerful, brave, courageous, and loud personality. He was actually one of the big names in our faction. He kind of held things together alongside Jack- although, Jack had much more power than my father.

I stood there and continued to think, and suddenly I got an idea. A horrible, brilliant idea.


	3. The Lie

I opened the door and walked straight to the living room; My mom was watching the news as expected.

“So you finally decided to come home, did you?”

“When were you gonna tell me?” I growled at her.

She stood up and stared at me with worry- I couldn’t tell which of us she was worried about.

“Tell you what? What's wrong?”

“About Dad.”

She shook her head and continued to pretend that she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

“I told you what happened a long time ago, I don't know what else to tell you...”

“Why keep ignoring it, just admit it. You are part of this lie.” I hissed at her waiting for her to cave.

“Lie? What the hell are you talking about?”

Instead of losing my temper, I sighed and looked down. I slowly relaxed my tense muscles and gave her the most pathetic and sorry look before speaking, “Mom, listen, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m the way that I am… I just want you to know before I leave tomorrow that I truly wish I had done better…”

She immediately frowned and walked towards me to wrap her arms around me as I rested one arm behind her neck.

“But I also want you to know that-  _ I got my bad habits from you… _ ” I whispered as I pulled out the small injector that was loosely tucked in my back pocket. I plunged the needle into the side of her neck, causing her to gasp from the sharp pain; she pulled away from me instantly and put her hand over the injection site.

“You lied to me. For years you’ve lied to me and I think it's time that you finally tell me the truth.”

I smiled only for a second, purely because of how perfectly this was working out. I watched her panic as the truth serum started to do its work and prepared myself to hear things that I might later wish I hadn’t.

As soon as she began to sweat and clench her fists, I knew that it was my cue to start asking questions.

“Let's start with the basics. Did you kill your husband, my father, Robert Hayes?”

She winced and leaned on the edge of the kitchen counter, staying quiet aside from her heavy breathing.

“Yes or no?”

Her voice trembled as she looked away from me and gave an answer.

“Yes…”

I deeply Inhaled and proceeded to the next question.

“Why?”

“He was trying to get rid of Jack so that he could become the leader of our faction, but- I couldn’t let him. He was tired of Candor being considered ‘disposable’ by the other factions and wanted to prove otherwise through acts of violence. I couldn’t let that happen.”

I nodded, having a hard time accepting that everything I was hearing was true- but I continued.

“How did you get away with it?”

She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, “Jack knew that I staged his suicide- I made it look like an accident- I-” She began to struggle to get the last of her words out, “I told Jack what he was planning and he agreed that he should be stopped, but he didn’t want it to come to murder.”

I paused and just stared at her- she had tears in her eyes as she looked back at me and trembled.

“So you didn’t have to kill him- There were other options… How can you live with yourself?!”

She covered her face and tried her hardest to stop herself from sobbing.

“ _ I’m so sorry… _ ”

Despite the fact that I was now in shock, I continued, knowing that I didn’t have much time left with the serum.

“Why did Jack stay quiet?”

“I don’t- he said-”

She covered her mouth and let the tears flow; The serum was definitely wearing off.

She walked up to me and hugged me tight, burying her face in my shoulder.

“ _ I’m sorry, Pete, I really am… _ ”

I heard her but didn’t respond; I just stood there with my arms at my sides as I stared at the wall trying my hardest to accept the truth.

I didn’t want to- maybe I really was a coward.


	4. Goodbye

“Molly, Drew, what's up?” I caught them on their way upstairs and nudged myself between the two of them, putting my arms behind their shoulders.

“You’re chipper today…” Molly slightly pulled away from me to look at me with pure confusion.

“Why wouldn’t I be, huh? We’re starting our new lives today, aren’t you excited?”

Molly just gave me a weird look while Drew smiled back at me.

“Hell yeah. You know what you’re gonna do yet?”

I nodded and crossed my arms-, “I think I do, my friend. Dauntless sounds like a go for me. What about you two?” I knew I wasn’t supposed to be saying any of this, but I really just didn’t give a shit anymore.

“Me too,” Drew and Molly said in unison.

“Look at that, just like we planned when we were kids.” I tilted my head, “Although back then I would’ve never thought that we’d be going into Dauntless… Ah, good times...”

Molly looked around and then back at me, “Where's your mom?”

I just shrugged and smiled, “I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

“Didn’t you see her this morning?”

“Molly, you’re doing that thing again.” I sighed, smiling despite the fact that she was starting to really piss me off.

As soon as I got inside, I split from my friends and scanned the room looking for one person in particular, and after a couple of seconds, I found him.

“ ‘Scuse me, sorry, coming through,” I gently nudged past people on my way to the other side of the room, eager to speak to Jack. “Jack, my guy, there he is!”

He smiled and greeted me with a handshake, “Peter, It's great to see you. Congr-”

“Yeah, that's great. Hey, do you remember your buddy, Robert?”

He put his hands back at his sides and slightly frowned, “Of course I do, Your father was a great man. His death affected all of us… It was truly a horrible loss.”

I nodded, “Well then why didn’t you tell anybody how he really died? Why didn't you do anything about it? Not to mention, you abandoned all of your morals and went against the beliefs of your own faction by  _ choosing _ to turn a blind eye to his murder.”

He glared at me in shock- the man was practically frozen.

“I did it for your sake. I didn’t want you to be parentless and having to live with the knowledge that your mother was the one responsible for your father’s death for your entire childhood. I left it up to your mother to tell you the true story if she so wished. ”

Finally, some closure.

“Was he really a threat?” I had a new respect for Jack after hearing what he had to say; It changed everything.

He put his hands behind his back and locked his fingers before nodding, “Yes… Unfortunately, he was. I did not want to see him dead, however. I simply wanted to handle it like adults, but your mother acted without my knowledge.”

“Jack, look, I just want to thank you for,” I was interrupted by Marcus announcing the beginning of the ceremony, but as soon as he finished talking, I continued. I didn’t have time for a proper thank you, or to come clean about how I found out, so I just kept it simple, “- Thank you for telling me the truth...”

He patted my shoulder and gave me an apologetic smile, “Of course…Choose wisely, Hayes.”

I gave a brittle smile and nodded- when I turned around, I saw my mother standing to the side looking for me. I didn’t look at her for long, I simply stood where I was supposed to in line and kept my eyes forward. I felt a hand touch mine, and I looked over to see my mother looking at me with remorse. I pulled my hand away and looked straight ahead again; my mother began to apologize, but in this moment, I didn't want to hear it.

“Sorry won't bring back my dead dad.”

She frowned and looked in my direction, “Come on, Pete, it's the last time I’ll ever see you, can you at least just look at me? Please?”

I sighed and closed my eyes before turning my head to look at her.

“I can’t forgive you- I don’t know how you could go your entire life keeping something like that from your own son... And by the way, since you raised a liar, I’ll be nice for once and tell you something true before I go. I’m glad I won’t have to ever see you again after today.”

I didn’t care that I hurt her feelings. I cared that she lied to me for eight years of my life. I cared that she made me feel like a horrible kid for the entirety of my childhood. When I made mistakes, I was given no direction, I was simply scolded and told how disappointed she was in me. Not once did she take those words back.

When I watched my blood fall onto the burning coals that represented my new faction, I immediately felt free. I didn’t look back after I chose- I just smiled and found a place with my new faction-mates. They were my home now, and I promised myself the second that I picked up that knife and cut my palm that I would do whatever it took to be on top; to be the best.


End file.
